New guy from Canada...

[Johnny K]

Hi all,

I figured I'd introduce myself:
My name is John, and I live in Alberta, Canada. I'm quite new to archery and bow building, currently working on my first "real" bow, a tri-lam pyramid longbow. Really like this site, already found a lot of useful info here, and hope to learn much more!

Anyone else from the Edmonton area? I'm having a hard time finding good suppliers of bow wood/staves out here...

Thanks,
John

pics are of the tri-lam... I have realized that I made the limbs way too thick... now for some serious sanding  ...

[bubbles]

Hey John, welcome to PA.  I'm  from Toronto, but Im sure there are sme guys around you.
A good spokeshave will reduce that belly down to floor tiller pretty quick if you have good grain. Sanding would take a while, unless you have a good belt sander.  Ferriers rasp would also be good.
Also, is that 2 backings spliced together in the handle or am I crazy?

[Johnny K]

Hi bubbles, Thanks for the welcome!

You're not crazy, that is a splice in the middle... I had a terrible time finding something with a straight grain that long... I figured that, as my handle is non-bending, it couldn't hurt to make a two-piece backing... it's maple almost 1/4" thick.

Thanks for the tool suggestions, I have a ferrier's rasp and might try that, but as I mean to keep the belly flat, I think my best bet is the belt sander. (The belly is oak, sands really easy...)   

Thanks,
John

[Pat B]

Welcome to PA, John. The farriers rasp should do what's needed to reduce the belly and keep it flat. You can also reduce the width to drop the weight some. As far as the two piece backing, I'd add an overlay over the joint in the baking for insurance. You can still shape it to be comfortable.

  Pat

[Johnny K]

Thanks Pat!

I'll look into putting on an overlay, just to be safe... wouldn't want this one to break (it's been in the works/planning for quite a while)...
I've got some left over purple-heart that will do the trick, and the extra thickness will enable me to deepen the arrow shelf without fear of weakening the bow there.

Thanks again for the welcome and advice,

John

[Buckeye Guy]

Welcome to PA!

[Johnny K]

Thanks!

I'm really enjoying the site, learning a lot...

[SIIaCanuck]

John,

I'm from central Alberta and just joined the forum.  I work north of Edmonton three days a week but I don't have any leads on commercially available wood.  However, there is always the Saskatoon we have growing on the ranch at home.

If you'd like a bit to play with, let me know.  I'll see what I can find, we've got quite a bit but it the really straight stuff takes a bit of crawling around in the bush to find.  That being said, I'm always looking for an excuse to go for a hike with the dog.

Many of the plains tribes used Saskatoon (Serviceberry, Shadberry) and it's known to be a capable bow wood, both self and backed with sinew.

Stew

[Pappy]

Welcome to PA,good looking stick you got going, looking forward to seeing it finished.
Pappy

[Johnny K]

Stew, thanks!
Just sent you a PM.

Pappy, thanks for the welcome! I actually finished it a while back, unfortunately it has developed a splinter and chrysals... Here's a link to the post, I had meant to put the link here earlier, seem to have forgotten...

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,52078.0.html

Thanks,
John

[wizardgoat]

Welcome to the site. There's a few other guys from Alberta on here I believe. A few of us in BC too